Cultural Identity in Tim Winton

In the novel Cloudstreet, the author, Tim Winton has used his shaping of characters, place and time to help in the construction of the cultural identity present in the text. His shaping of characters depends mainly on gender and language as well as class distinctions while place refers to the river and the house at No 1 Cloudstreet and the importance placed on having a sense of belonging. Time can also be seen as referring to the attitudes of society present at that time towards work and employment as well as rituals that occurred at home. Cloudstreet can be seen as creating its own individual representation of cultural identity as the context present in the book, the 1950’s- 60’s, is affected by the values of society present at the time in which the book was written by Tim Winton, which is in 1991. Thus by modifying tradition cultural identity associated with the 1950’s – 60’s time period, Winton has constructed his own individual version of Australian cultural identity through a 1990’s influenced point of view of the importance placed on work, rituals, class, gender, langu

During this time period of the 1990’s, class distinctions were not as significant as in the 1950’s – 60’s where the middle or higher classes would have been far more desirable to be a part of than the lower class. In the 1990’s however, it was the working class who were often valorized as it was they who were seen as doing the ‘real work’ and this point of view can be seen as being enforced in the novel as Winton has portrayed the working class lifestyle of the Lamb and Pickle families as far more desirable than that of the middle class characters such as Toby Raven and the old, white lady who was the previous occupant of Cloudstreet. This can also be linked to the fact that the working class placed a great deal more importance on the well-being and happiness of their families, in contrast to Toby, who never mentions his family and the old white lady, who would be better known for breaking up the Aboriginal families by taking away the girls. This furthers repulses the reader from the middle class and endears the working class and family orientated values of the Lamb and Pickles families which can be seen when Sam remarks, “…Christ Jesus, when yer family goes…it’s more than a man can bear. A man’s s’posed to have that at least to look forward to…” and also when Lester replies to Quick’s question of what he lives for with “…the family, Quick. Your mother‘n me always had that in common. Take away the family and that’s it, there’s no point…” Attitudes and beliefs such as these, which Winton portrays as being far more prevalent in the working class than the middle class and further enforce the differences between the two classes are all factors which help Winton in his construction of the class differences and ultimately, cultural identity present during that time period of the 1950’s to 60’s.

Place is an important factor in helping Winton in his construction of cultural identity in the novel as it helps the reader in understanding the amount of importance that society at that time, placed on having a sense of belonging, which can be seen with the characters links to the house, No 1 Cloud Street and the river as well for the Lamb family. The setting of the house and river seems to be very much a part of the characters themselves and seems to be a part of their identity and they suffer when they are away from it, as can be seen with Quick’s guilt and the nightmares he experiences when he is in “that great riverless domain of the Wheatbelt…” and Rose is away from Cloudstreet and she miscarries the baby and then suffers from anorexia as well. There is also a strong sense of spirituality present in these places and this also links to the Aboriginal beliefs of the land shaping who you are which can be seen with the Aboriginal man’s comments of “too many places busted…places are important…you’ve got a home to go to…go there…” Quick also has a strong link to the river which can be seen when he remarks, “…every important thing that had happened to him, it seemed, had to do with the river…�

Some topics in this essay:
Tim Winton, Toby Raven, Lamb Quick, Rose Cloudstreet, Lamb Pickles, Dolly Oriel, Sam Pickles, Raven Winton, Fawkes Night, cultural identity, Cloud Street, sense belonging, 1950’s 60’s, toby raven, construction cultural, importance placed, construction cultural identity, identity 1950’s 60’s, identity 1950’s, tim winton, own individual, class gender, cultural identity 1950’s, 1950’s � 60’s, cultural identity novel,